In electronic circuitry, many integrated circuit components are encapsulated in a dual in-line package, or DIP, which has rows of connecting legs or pins projecting from opposite sides and extending below the package in two parallel rows. The widths of the packages and spacings between the rows of pins have been standardized and the three most common widths are 300, 400 and 600 mils.
DIP devices are tested after encapsulation in apparatus which contacts all of the pins while the individual device is held in a positioning jig. The devices are usually subjected to a particular environment for testing, such as a specific high or low temperature, which requires the devices to be heat soaked and stabilized in an environmental chamber prior to testing. The devices are normally stored in the chamber on some type of track, from which the individual devices are fed to the handling and testing station. Precise alignment is necessary for moving the devices, since they are quite small and the connecting pins are delicate and easily bent.
Apparatus in present use utilizes tracks which will handle only a single size of DIP, or occasionally two sizes. To accommodate other sizes, many parts of the apparatus must be changed, if this is possible in the design. In view of the large number of DIP devices which are currently used, it would be very advantageous to have apparatus which would handle the three common sizes with a minimum of adjustment.